Friday, April 24, 2009

We Buy Books! However....

Since we're mostly a used books bookstore, we are constantly buying books from people. If you're familiar with our store, you won't have any questions about what kind of books we buy. But some people do. And we get calls about this about 5 times a day, on average. Over the past 7 years, we've honed our abilities to decide whether we want their books before we even hear what books they have. If you are going to call, try to avoid these pitfalls:

1. Do Not refer to your collection of books as a "lieberry." This is pretty good indication that the person speaking has not actually read any of the books they are selling. Or, worse, that they have. In either case, we most likely won't be interested. An easy tool to remember this rule is "Libraries contain a number of books. Lieberries grow of Fib Trees."

2. When asked to identify what kind of books you have, Do Not classify them as "reading books."

3. When we ask for a more specific description, Do Not categorize them as "Paperbacks and Hardcovers." We realize that they are most likely either when we answered the phone. As a side note, it does not help your case to act confused when we ask "Yes, but what kind of paperbacks and hardcovers?"

4. Do Not say that you have "All kinds" of books. If you do say this and don't include Patricia Cornwell, Michael Connelly, John Grisham, James Patterson, or Dean Koontz when you get more specific, we will be amazed.

5. When you list the previously mentioned authors and we tell you that we don't buy them, Do Not become confused/irate by asking "Well, what do you buy?!?" This implies to the listener that you have no comprehension that authors other than the ones you read exist. When you do ask a question like this, it is more likely that you are a "book snob" than us.

6. Do Not ask "Do you buy books?" and follow up with "How much would you give me for old National Geographics?"

7. Do Not refer to your books as "really old" if they are from the 1980s. It's just insulting.